Posted: 12/21/2019 8:13:53 PM EDT
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So, years ago I had a beautiful Kimber .45 ACP that I bought used. Turns out it would double. Kimber said it was out of warranty, so I traded out of it for what I had traded into it for. A little leery of Kimber as a result. Earlier this year, bought a Micro 9, which works great. So, last week I bought an Ultra Carry II in 9mm. Took it to the range today. Every round of 115 grain Remington FMJ's I tried to fire failed to eject, causing a jam. I didn't bring any other ammo with me, so I couldn't try anything else. However, Remington 115 grain rounds run fine in all of my other 9mm's, and I have more than a few. I think this gun is going back to Kimber for warranty service, when I can call them on Monday.
It's sad that 2 out of 3 Kimbers I've owned so far have had significant issues. Makes me worry about the Kimber Hunter rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor that I bought at same time, as a gift for my sister. Haven't taken it to the range yet, as I need to order a scope base for it. |
| Called Kimber today. They tried to blame the malfunctions on my use of Remington 115 g FMJ rounds. After I pointed out that every other 9mm handgun in the world runs fine on this stuff, they claim that I should be using 124g loads for some mysterious "break in" period. I got an RMA ultimately, but I have concerns that our philosophies don't align - clearly Kimber seems to think I should accept a gun that doesn't work until I complete a "break in"; of course they don't identify this in the manual. |
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Kimbers are built on the tight side, so their is a lot more friction to overcome when they are new.
Add to that new slide spring that is tight, they have a hard time cycling when new. The heavier ammo builds more pressure and helps things out. All the Kimbers I have owned have taken between 300-500 rounds to get things loosened up to run reliably with all types of ammo. I would have taken their advise and put 300-500 rounds through it of quality ammo before sending it in. They are great guns, just not the norm for the industry as far has having to break them in like you have to do with them. Now I would have sent it in if after breaking in and I was still having problems. |
| Thanks for the feedback. I did hold off on shipping it back, after I realized that putting some axle grease on the frame rails made it manually cycle a little easier. So I took it out, and with 50 rounds of 115 g FMJ, I only had to failures to extract / eject. So I guess I'll keep working on "breaking" this thing in. I'm just a little surprised, have never encountered this before. |
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I've never owned a Kimber that wasn't a problem child until at LEAST 350 rounds were put through it OR the slide and rails were polished. I won't buy one new anymore and sold the last one I had 2 years ago.
A trick I've used successfully is to use Crest toothpaste (not the gel stuff) on the rails and slide and work them back and forth without the spring. It puts a micro-polish on the mating surfaces and makes the gun smell good in the process. 
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Originally Posted By FB41:
I've never owned a Kimber that wasn't a problem child until at LEAST 350 rounds were put through it OR the slide and rails were polished. I won't buy one new anymore and sold the last one I had 2 years ago. A trick I've used successfully is to use Crest toothpaste (not the gel stuff) on the rails and slide and work them back and forth without the spring. It puts a micro-polish on the mating surfaces and makes the gun smell good in the process. |
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Originally Posted By FB41:
A trick I've used successfully is to use Crest toothpaste (not the gel stuff) on the rails and slide and work them back and forth without the spring. It puts a micro-polish on the mating surfaces and makes the gun smell good in the process. |
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Hopefully not posting misinformation but I seem to recall reading of some Kimbers having excessively “tight” chambers resulting from deformation caused by the process of stamping the caliber lettering on the barrel. Maybe someone can chime in if this is a relevant piece of information. I have a TLE that shoots well, but I will say my extractor was a bit loose at first. I got better ejection after adding a hair of tension. Edit: another thing I found on my TLE was that the barrel lugs (lower) weren’t profiled correctly and would bind on the slide stop when it was camming to lock and unlock. I stoned the lugs to prevent further binding where peening was evident and i noted that the gun cycles a little more smoothly by hand during link up. |
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If the malfunctions were limited to failure to extract/eject then I would look at the extractor...it may have excessive tension on the cartridge rim. If the extractor tension is okay then look on the bottom of the extractor to make sure there is no burr on the portion of the extractor where the rim would have to slide in to get in correct position. Check the breech face to make sure there is no burr especially around the firing pin hole. Take out the barrel and drop a factory cartridge into the chamber...does it drop in and drop out without forcing it? Finally, do you have a different magazine you can try? Try it with Wilson 9mm magazine just for the hell of it...it can't hurt. |
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I carry a Kimber Ultra II 45ACP. I experienced similar issues. I learned to keep it dripping with oil. Damn near throwing oil with every shot. I cycled around 1000rds through it this weekend with only 1 or 2 malfunctions. Good luck. |
Have another hit of sweet California sunshine
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Originally Posted By Drsalee: I carry a Kimber Ultra II 45ACP. I experienced similar issues. I learned to keep it dripping with oil. Damn near throwing oil with every shot. I cycled around 1000rds through it this weekend with only 1 or 2 malfunctions. Good luck. You should lap the rails on the frame and slide with lapping compound. |
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Originally Posted By AL_Safety:
Good tip. I'll try the toothpaste on this one while I watch TV. Surprisingly, my Kimber Micro 9 has run like a top from the start, but only have 100 rounds through it. I'm not used to a lengthy break in on a factory gun, but the frame to slide fit on this Kimber 9mm is tighter than any 1911 I've owned. I have no idea what is in toothpaste, but at least use a fine valve grinding compound or fine metal polish if you choose that route. |
Control the narrative.
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As everyone else said, Kimber's are very tight from the factory. They usually almost always need the break in period recommended by Kimber. They also usually have a list of certain ammo to use. It's a good idea to use one of the recommended ammo's for the break in period at least. After that see what it likes. In my experience, once properly broken in, they run great. |